Johnny B. Cody was born on October 21, 1929, in Madison, FL- the first born child of Matthew and Mattie Davis Cody. He was reared and educated in Valdosta, GA. At the age of 17, he joined the U.S. Navy Reserves and was eventually stationed aboard a destroyer, the USS Perry. After two long weeks at sea and a 25 pound weight-loss during those two weeks due to seasickness, Johnny asked for and was granted a discharge from the Navy Reserves. Originally, he had only known about the opportunity to join the Army or the Navy. When he learned that he could enlist in the US Marine Corps, he was very excited. Preferring the land over the sea, he anxiously enlisted, later to learn that he would spend about one-third of his 20 ½ year Marine Corps career on the sea. When Johnny spoke to his Marine Corps recruiter, the recruiter said Johnny would report to Parris Island, SC. It wasn’t until after being sworn in at Macon, GA, that he learned he would report to a place called Camp Lejeune, NC. After initially reporting to Camp Lejeune for an overnight stay, he was then told to report to Montford Point the next day. Johnny said he told his superiors there had to be a mistake in his paperwork. He had never even heard of Montford Point. Once arriving at Montford Point, he was even more certain there was a mistake because when he looked around, he noticed that, whether tall or short; thick or thin; from NJ or K Y, everyone looked like him. Everyone was black, including the DI’s. How was this any different than the segregated Georgia he had just left? The drill instructor, Robert Luther Burns, aka “Blood Burns” was the strictest DI around, but Johnny has said he would never trade that experience for anything. It made him a better Marine. During hikes with heavy backpacks, drilling in his skivvies and bare feet in February, or being housed in barracks heated with three pot-bellied coal stoves instead of steam-heat like the white barracks, Montford Point is where Johnny learned discipline and perseverance. Even though he was ill with chills and a fever during an early hike, he refused to go to the sick bay. He had no desire to stop his training and be forced to start over. He wanted to get it over with as soon as possible. Although the training was the most grueling experience of his life and he wanted to go home several times, he was 1 of 13 out of the original 26 “boots” in his platoon to finish. There was no graduation ceremony for the black recruits, like there was for the white recruits at Camp Lejeune, but the same pride was there for him and his platoon. One of his many memories of Montford Point was his first encounter with the legendary Sgt. Major Hashmark Johnson. Johnny received his first military order from Hashmark- it was to take Hashmark’s tray to the mess hall. It was not a glorious or monumental order, yet he followed his order with the pride, honor, and dignity that comes with being a US Marine and he remembers it to this day. After his training at Montford Point, Johnny went on to various bases around the country- Miami, FL, Long Beach, CA, Norfolk, V A, and Camp Lejeune and Quantico several times. He was stationed aboard several ships like the USS Pocono and the USS Spiegel Grove where he had tours in Africa, Spain and Saudi Arabia. He served his country during the Korean War and the Vietnam War and retired after 20plus years in the US Marine Corps. After retiring from the Corps, Johnny served as a correctional officer at Lorton Federal Penitentiary and retired as an acting Lieutenant. Not one to sit still he went to work as a security officer for CVS Distribution Center, where he recently retired for the third time at the age of 84. Currently he is very active in his church where he sings in the men's chorus and serves as a deacon in his church. He is now looking forward to relaxing, fishing, landscaping and watching his favorite cowboy movies. Most of all, he is looking forward to spending time with his wife of over 65 years Eloise, his six children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren and god-children, as well as his fellow Montford Point Marines.